11 Movies That Were Booed at Cannes

By Vivian Kane | Lists | May 18, 2016 |

By Vivian Kane | Lists | May 18, 2016 |

One of the big topics out of the Cannes Film Festival right now is that Kristen Stewart’s movie, Personal Shopper, was booed during its screening. Some reports say that this was because the movie was just plain bad, while others blame a lack of understanding, both of the movie and of Stewart. Whatever the reason, to hear that a movie was booed at its premiere immediately moves it to our Do Not Watch list, right? Except that booing at Cannes is almost a rite of passage. Or at the very least, maybe not something to get worked up over. Check out these other movies, ranging from classics to the very terrible, all of which were booed at Cannes.

Taxi Driver

We should just call this list right now, right? If Taxi Driver was booed, what kind of taste can these audiences have/

Pulp Fiction

Pictured here: John Travolta not understanding the Cannes reception of Pulp Fiction. Although to be fair, the movie’s premiere wasn’t booed, only when it received the festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or.

Crash
Which is probably how most of us feel about this movie. I didn’t hate it too vehemently when I first saw it, but if I’d been present at the Oscars the year it won Best Picture, you’d better believe I would have booed my damn face off.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Lynch described his experience at Cannes this year as “not fun.”

Antichrist
This movie was so hated that Cannes invented an “anti-award” to give it for its almost impressive feats of misogyny.

The Da Vinci Code
This… isn’t surprising, is it?

Southland Tales
Ditto.

Tree of Life
I get that people are passionate about movies. I’ve always thought I was one of those people. But then I read the booing of this movie described as “an ugly, animalistic thing,” and I realized maybe I don’t want to be that person.

Marie Antoinette

The New York Times described this as receiving “lusty boos and smatterings of applause,” and I DO want to be a person who knows what a lusty boo sounds like.

Inglorious Basterds

The version of this movie that screened at Cannes was not the same movie we all saw. A lot was reportedly edited out before its full release, so maybe we’ll never know how similar the movie now is to the “armor-plated turkey” that screened at Cannes.

The Brown Bunny

This movie’s existence is maybe worth it all, simply for the quotes that it inspired from Roger Ebert. Ebert has said that with this film— “the worst movie in the history of the Cannes Film Festival”— director “Vincent Gallo has put a curse on my colon and a hex on my prostate.” Ebert was also so bored during the movie (famous for that IRL BJ from Chloe Sevigny) that he began singing “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” OUT LOUD.